Monday, June 30, 2014

All Java regions have finished selecting teams that will compete in the National Universities Debating Championship, which may be held later in August. Non-Java teams never managed to reach the final of NUDC, let alone win it. NUDC is the state-sponsored debating tournament that gives opportunity for varsity debaters from all corners of the country to participate. Although the geographical cover is truly nationwide, NUDC has a lower overall quality of participants than other major tournaments because it only allows each university to send one team, preventing powerhouses to fill the competition with their members, who prepare better than those who lack access to proper training methods. Nonetheless, NUDC winners are the official national champions for the British Parliamentary style of debating.

There were a couple of surprises in the Java selections. Powerhouse Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta failed to qualify from the Greater Jakarta regionals while dark horse Universitas Jember repeated last year's upset by advancing first in East Java above universitties from Malang and Surabaya that have better track records. One of the pioneers of Indonesian debating, Universitas Parahyangan, will have no representation for the second time in a row due to a clash with the school's academic calender, the same reason behind last year's absence. Here are the teams from Java that will debate in the main round of NUDC 2014.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

#2 Binus International A (Wilson Salim, Melisa Irene, Gierdino Julian) championed the 18th Java Overland Varsities English Debate, giving their club its first trophy from the mother of debating tournaments in Indonesia. JOVED was the first competition in Indonesia that used an internationally accepted debating format.

Binus International Pool of English Debaters (Bipeds) is now truly a national powerhouse after winning the three most prestigious tournaments in Indonesia within 6 years of its establishment. Bipeds won the Indonesian Varsities English Debate in 2013 and the National Universities Debating Championships in 2011 and 2013. Siblings Wilson Salim and Melisa Irene also took home the best speaker awards after they were tied on the top of the tab.

In the final, the winners defeated #1 Universitas Brawijaya (Zelly Sidi Zamzami, Nadya Ayuning, M. Fahri Akbar) and dashed the hope of debaters from East Java to see the trophy go to their province for the first time. Champions of major national debating tournaments in Indonesia have all come from schools located in the western and central parts of Java island. Bipeds knocked down the motion 'This House Would Oblige Media Companies to Allocate Proportionate Airtime for All Political Advertisements", an apt topic considering how television stations in Indonesia are taking sides and following the political choices of their owners.

Monday, June 23, 2014

The final of the 2014 Java Overland Varsities English Debate will be between clubs that have never reached this stage before. #1 Universitas Brawijaya (Zelly Sidi Zamzami, M. Fahri Akbar, Nadya Ayuning) will be the first ever team from their school to debate in the final of a classic national tournament. They are members of UB's Formasi club. Their opponent will be #2 Binus International (Melisa Irene, Wilson Salim, Gierdino Julian), who come from BIPEDS, an organization that last year won the country's no.1 tournament -- the Indonesia Varsities English Debate. The club had never produced a JOVED finalist. Binus students have won JOVED before but they came from a different club.

The history of JOVED is full of milestones. It is the first tournament in Indonesia that uses an internationally accepted format. It is the competition with the most diverse set of champions. No school has been able to win three JOVEDs in a row. It is the first debate contest that had a winner from outside the western Java debate epicenter. The 18th edition of JOVED will also become a milestone as it will have a champion from a club with no history of winning it.

Record-setting Universitas Brawijaya (Zelly Sidi Zamzami, M. Fahri Akbar, Nadiya Ayuning) broke first into the knockouts of the 2014 Java Overland Varsities English Debate after winning all six preliminary rounds. None from the Malang school had achieved that feat before. But their main aim is marking another milestone - winning JOVED, the first tournament in Indonesia using an internationally accepted format. None from East Java province, where Brawijaya is located, has won JOVED or any other classic national tournament since competitive debating spread in Indonesia.

In R6, the underdogs defeated favorites Binus International A (Melisa Irene, Wilson Salim, Gierdino Julian). Prior to that, the dark horse had beaten teams from powerhouses Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Gadjah Mada and Institut Teknologi Bandung. Here is the list of the 16 teams that advanced into the elimination stage, which will take place tomorrow at Universitas PGRI Semarang.

Two teams from reigning champion Universitas Indonesia came to the 18th Java Overland
Varsities English Debate with a mission to keep the trophy for the third consecutive year. Since the first time JOVED ran in 1997, UI has won 7 out of 17 editions but never three in a row. After 4 rounds of JOVED 2014 yesterday, one team from UI are still unbeaten. A team each from Binus International and Universitas Brawijaya, which have never championed JOVED, also boast clean sheets. There will be 2 more preliminary rounds today before the octofinals. There are 46 teams competing in
this year's JOVED, the first debating tournament in Indonesia
that used an internationally accepted format. JOVED
2014 is taking place at Universitas PGRI Semarang.

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

A record of 17 teams from 12 Indonesian institutions went to the 2014
United Asian Debating Championships in Singapore but none could break into the main elimination stage. Universitas Gadjah Mada 2 (Romario Tambunan, Erwina Salsabila, Nabila Aghniarizqa) and Universitas Atma Jaya 1 (Cindy Fransisca, Kario Teguh, Silvya Suwandy) created the 5th all-Indonesian final
streak in the English-as-Foreign-Language category in as many years. UGM brought home the trophy. Here are the details
of Indonesia's performance at Asia's most prestigious debating competition.

R1.
THBT the trend of placing trigger warnings (sexual content, violence, suicide) for students in signing up for class courses is regressive for education
THW ban gender based initiatory organizations (fraternities and sororities)
THBT companies should be disallowed from attaching conditions to the scholarships they give out that lock individuals to specific industries

R3.
In nations with high crime rate against women, THBT the international community should sanction the political elite in the country
THBT the feminist movement should actively support groups like the Gulabi Gang
THBT self-indentified pro-choice activists who have had an abortion should not publicly discuss their regret or grief about their experiences

R4.
THW prohibit the media from disclosing the political motivation of terrorist groups
THW only allow nudity in the media that plays a role in the story or furthers the narrative
THW require judicial approval prior to the release of classified information by journalist

R5.
THW discontinue the practice of victim testimony during sentencing hearings
THW prohibit the release of previously unpublished artistic works after the death of the creator, author or musician
THW reduce a prisoner's sentence for every state-approved book that they read

R6.
THBT the Philippines should allow other countries to set up military bases in parts of its territory in the exchange for money
THBT Singapore and Malaysia should place a moratorium on importing labour from Indonesia until they reform their environmental practices
THBT public figures serving in the Japanese government have a moral obligation not to visit the Yasukuni shrine

R7.
THW, as Dalai Lama, choose to be reincarnated outside China and Tibet
THW, as Pope Francis, expose the gay network in the Vatican
In impoverished nations, when members of the Church have a child beyond their financial means, THBT the Church should be responsible for the expenses of rearing the child

R8.
Regardless of consent, THBT families have a right to pull the plug on pregnant women on life support
THW limit the right to receive organ donations strictly to those who sign up as donors themselves
THW disallow mergers of big pharmaceutical companies

Pre-Octofinals
TH regrets the dominant narrative in children's education that good always wins
THBT parents who actively try to suppress a child's sexuality should be charged for abuse
THBT professional sports clubs should not be allowed to contract underage players to the their teams

Octofinals/EFL Quarterfinals
TH supports an African Union led initiative into Nigeria to combat Boko Haram
THBT India should institute an automatic right to refuge for persecuted Hindus
THBT the Pheu Thai party cede one term of governance to the Democratic Party

Quarterfinals/EFL Semifinals
THW prevent banks from owning a stake in the extraction, transportation, storage or distribution of physical commodities
TH condemns Turkey's move to facilitate oil exports from Kurdistan without the Iraqi federal government's consent
THW pay reparations to families of victims of the slave trade

Semifinals
THBT the Western media should not refer to Hamas as a terrorist organisation
THBT the occupation of the West Bank must be considered as ethnic cleansing
THBT the Pope, as the head of the Catholic Church, should not have called the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory the 'State of Palestine'.

Main Grand Final
THBT instead of countries directly giving aid, all development aid should be decided by an independent institution, which will not disclose the identity of the donor

EFL Grand Final
TH regrets the use of graphic imagery of suffering to promote altruistic causes

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Universitas Gadjah Mada debaters Indriani Pratiwti and Romario Tambunan are still leading the 2014 IndoDebate Debater of the Year table after 5 months. They have been in the top three since they combined forces to win the Indonesian Varsities English Debate in January. Indriani bested previous leader Romario in May after reaching the final of the Atma Jaya Intervarsities. The current list also incorporated results from the Climate Change Debate, the English Fiesta competition and the National English-Arabic Olympics. It did not take into account two other competitions that concluded in May due to their limits on participation. The International Humanitarian Law debate only allowed students of International Relations to join while the National Newbies Debate Competition was a novice tournament.

For the first time this year, all top 10 speakers on the list come from the three top powerhouses that are coincidentally the leading state universities in the country - UGM, Universitas Indonesia and Institut Teknologi Bandung. Below is the top end of the DOTY 2014 list as of May. The full list can be accessed here.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Host #2 Nanyang Technological University 1 (Aditya Mitra, Lu Huiyi,
Vihasini Gopakumar) won the 5th United Asian Debating Championships, recapturing a title that the school won in
2012. NTU became the first institution to win UADC twice after defeating #4 International Islamic University Malaysia 1 (Ameera Moore, Syed Saddiq, Mubarrat Wassey) in the final. Maizura Mokhsein from Universiti Teknologi Mara topped the overall speaker tab.

UADC is the most prestigious 3-on-3 debate competition in Asia that came into being after the merger of the Asian Intervarsity Debating Championship and the Asian Universities Debating Championship in 2010. UADC will take place in Indonesia for the first time next year after the partnership between Binus University Jakarta and Denpasar-based Universitas Udayana won approval to hold it on the tourist island of Bali.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

#1EFL Universitas Gadjah Mada 2 (Erwina Salsabila, Romario Tambunan,
Nabila Aghniarizqa) grabbed the best English-as-Foreign-Language team
title in the 2014 United Asian Debating Championships. In the fifth consecutive all-Indonesian
UADC EFL final, UGM 2 knocked down the motion 'This House Regrets the
Use of Graphic Imagery of Suffering to Promote Altruistic Cause'
proposed by #7EFL Universitas Atma Jaya 1 (Cindy Fransisca, Kario Teguh,
Silvya Suwandy). UGM's Romario Tambunan was the best speaker in the EFL
final.

More than a dozen Indonesian teams went to the 5th UADC at Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore but none broke into the main knockouts
while six squads qualified for the EFL quarterfinals. UGM 2 was also
the best Indonesian team in the preliminaries with a 5-3 win-loss record
but it failed to break into main elimination on speaker points after
finishing at #30 when only 24 teams could advance. Next year the
tournament will be held in Bali after a partnership between Binus
University and Universitas Udayana won the approval of the UADC council.
Hopefully, home crowd advantage will not only help Indonesian debaters
continue the EFL winning streak but also break into the elite club of
Asian debating.